Tourism Satellite Account 2017

Tourism industry continued its significant contribution to Malaysia’s economy with a share of 14.9 per cent in 2017 as compared to 10.4 per cent in 2005. Retail trade remained the largest share at 44.8 per cent (2005: 41.0%) and posted a double-digit growth of 12.4 per cent as compared to 10.5 per cent in the preceding year. This was followed by food & beverage serving services (16.3%) and accommodation (12.8%). The value added of tourism industry in Malaysia has been in upward trend since 2005 and is growing rapidly with an average annual growth rate of 11.2 per cent over the past twelve years.

The direct contribution of tourism to GDP recorded 6.1 per cent with a value of RM82.6 billion (2016: RM76.6 billion). On the demand side perspective, internal tourism consumption registered a growth of 7.7 per cent in 2017 (2016: 9.4 %). This growth was impelled by domestic tourism expenditure which registered a strong double-digit growth of 10.8 per cent.

Inbound Tourism

Inbound tourism expenditure segment grew moderately at 5.1 per cent as compared to 9.0 per cent recorded in 2016. This was due to the declining trend in international tourist arrivals from 26.8 million (2016) to 25.9 million in 2017. However, inbound tourism expenditure continued as a major contributor with a 53.7 per cent share to total tourism consumption.

Shopping remained as the largest component of tourism product with a value of RM26.8 billion (31.3%) in 2017. This was followed by accommodation RM20.7 billion (24.2%) and passenger transportation RM15.0 billion (17.5%) respectively.

The share of domestic tourism expenditure to the total internal tourism consumption expanded from 35.6 per cent (2011) to 46.3 per cent in 2017. Domestic tourism expenditure recorded RM73.7 billion (2016: RM66.5 billion) with a double-digit growth of 10.8 per cent (2016: 9.8%). This performance was supported by shopping and food & beverage serving services. The number of domestic visitors was 205.4 million (2016: 189.3 million) and Selangor holds the highest number of visitor arrivals.

The number of employees involved in Malaysia’s tourism sector has risen to 3.4 million in 2017 from 1.5 million in 2005. The employment in tourism industry contributed 23.2 per cent to total employment in 2017 (2005:15.0%). Most of the employments in tourism industry were from the retail trade industry (33.7%) and food & beverage serving services (32.3%) respectively.